Saturday, December 23, 2006

Hi folks. I just posted this OPEN THREAD over at Blue Mass Group. Anyone (with any perspective!) can head over there to join the discussion. If you don't have a BMG account, you might consider opening one. It's easy. I'll also monitor the comments box here at Live, Love & Learn.

As many of you know Ben LaGuer's case is going to oral arguments in the SJC on January 4. For 23 years he has been claiming his innocence of a vicious rape. I have been posting to BMG about the case since last June. The case and the current round of appeals raise many many issues which I plan to get into during the next two weeks. I've also opened accounts on MyDD and Daily Kos. I'll explain in another post why I think it is important that the NetRoots be informed about what's going on.

I'll post another open thread on the topic next week as a lot of people are away from their computers right now. But I'll be checking in pretty regularly over the Christmas weekend so I want to invite anyone who has any questions, comments or perspectives on the case whatsoever to post them. I'll do my best to answer every post whether it has to do with the facts of the case, legal issues it raises, or how the current process has unfolded. The last part has obviously been affected by the politicization of the case during the governor's race. If you are not familiar with the case, visit the Web site I maintain at www.BenLaGuer.com. In the meantime, please use the OPEN THREAD to join the discussion.

Recommended Reading

Veteran Ben LaGuer

Let me finally return to Dwight Macdonald and the responsibility of intellectuals. Macdonald quotes an interview with a death-camp paymaster who burst into tears when told that the Russians would hang him. "Why should they? What have I done?" he asked. Macdonald concludes: "Only those who are willing to resist authority themselves when it conflicts too intolerably with their personal moral code, only they have the right to condemn the death-camp paymaster." The question, "What have I done?" is one that we may well ask ourselves, as we read each day of fresh atrocities in Vietnam—as we create, or mouth, or tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.

– Chomsky, The Responsibility of Intellectuals 1967

Words to Remember:

"Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere; alterum non laedere; suum cuique tribuere"(These are the precepts of the law: To live honorably; to hurt nobody; to render to every one his due.)

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -Section 1 of the 14th amendment to the US Constitution

Never Forgotten; Sadly Missed

Lawrence King

GLBT Legends

Paul McMahon and Ralph Hodgdon in 2007

"If you want to be important -- wonderful. If you want to be recognized -- wonderful. If you want to be great -- wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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